So now we are in Malaysia!
Journey to Langkawi was pretty easy, our first Asian ferry replacing our usual longtail boat.
We spent 4 nights in Langkawi at Rainbow Lodge on the main tourist strip Pantai Cenang. Although Langkawi is touristy and likely Malaysia's equivalent to Phuket it's much more laid back and less in your face. Unlike Phuket where we wished to leave after one night we extended our stay in Langkawi. First thing that hit us about Langkawi- people's English is unbelievably good.
We arrived late on the island so didn't do too much the first night. We walked along the beach, browsed through shops and stalls and ate near our accommodation. Rainbow Lodge was up the road from the main street so none of the noise reached us but close enough it took less than 5 minutes to reach it. I don't remember any of the names of places we ate at (kinda wish I wrote them down but didn't think about it). First place we ate was halfway between the main road and Rainbow Lodge, at night the fence is lined with oil burners and also on the table, a small open hut as the kitchen and some covered and some open tables.
First full day we did very little but did take a taxi to watch Mad Max Fury Road. The building didn't look like much from the outside, small looking building. Inside we were shocked that there were 4 floors including a supermarket on the ground level. After searching for the cinema and failing we realised there were actually 10 floors and 5-10 could only be reached by lift. It seems cinemas here they don't believe in end credits or many adverts (we were 15mins late to the start time- back home that's advert buffer time but we missed a bit of the start). We were quite shocked to see half the audience (there were very few of us) were very young kids.
We ate at an Italian place on the main road attached to a Mexican restaurant. Extremely good food however a little pricer than the budget we were allowing ourselves.
Second day we spent as a shopping trip. Although Langkawi has its hoard of touristy gift shops (some including some decent stuff- we have good quality tye die t-shirts and some did nice trousers) the main attraction for me to shop here were the handmade unusual shops. The Bus Boutique has a collection of goodies including crystal necklaces for RM 80 (£14), clothing and bracelets. The shops only open at night but it's all in an old fashioned small bus which holds a certain charm. Another interesting shop is ZackCraft, squeezed between two buildings and only fits one person in (open day and night). All handmade with the lady making more in the corner, extremely friendly people running it.
Our last full day we spent at Telaga Tujuh (Seven Pools). We started at the waterfall, stunning to see and photograph, with the waterfall filling into pools where people were swimming in the water. This was the busiest area we saw however its more interesting up on top of the hill where there are more pools and you can slide from one to another. There's also a look out spot where you can see over the side to more pools and also the view of the sea and jungle. We spotted a small family of monkeys in the trees, a mother and two young ones.
